Professor David Coates appointed to TEF panel

Published On Thu 15 Feb 2018 by Roddy Isles

Professor David Coates, of the School of Life Sciences, has been appointed as one of the panel members to carry out assessments for the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework subject-level pilot project during spring 2018.

Professor Coates, who received an MBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List last year for services to biology, will sit on the Natural Sciences panel.

“I am very honoured to be asked to contribute to the pilot subject panels for the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) from a very competitive pool,” said Professor Coates. “The subject-level assessments can have a big impact in ensuring courses are delivering high quality education.”

Professor Coates is Chair of the Royal Society of Biology Accreditation Committee, which is already developing a new accreditation system. While Dean of Learning and Teaching in the School of Life Sciences, he led a fundamental review of curriculum and delivery of new programmes which were very positively received by Skills Development Scotland, and the Scottish Life Sciences Association.

There are seven subject panels for the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) subject-level pilot, with panel members appointed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The 124 members include students, academics, employers, and representatives from professional, statutory and regulatory bodies.

Panel members were selected for their subject expertise, their standing in higher education, and evident commitment to teaching excellence and student outcomes. The composition of the panels also reflects the diverse types of higher education provider across the UK.

The TEF subject pilot is being implemented by HEFCE on behalf of the Department for Education. Currently, TEF ratings are awarded only at the level of a higher education provider. This pilot aims to test two possible models for generating TEF ratings at subject level; the results will inform the direction of the second subject-level pilot in 2018-19.

The pilot will run alongside the TEF Year Three process, but the pilot assessments will not interact with the provider-level TEF in any way. No ratings identifying individual providers will be published, as the subject-level pilots are purely developmental.

Panel members will carry out assessments from March to May 2018. Through their work on the pilot project the panel members will play a key role in helping to shape the future development of TEF at subject level.

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Roddy Isles
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Email: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk